For purposes of health maintenance, medical diagnosis and treatment, the human body may be treated as a process or a set of inter-related processes. Use of quantitative (e.g., measured) and qualitative (e.g., observed) data to assess the health of an individual is a critical element in current medical diagnostic and monitoring practice. A wide range of measurement tools are made available to the general public and the medical profession designed to provide quantitative data on medically relevant health parameters, such as body temperature, pulse, respiration rate, blood oxygen content, and blood glucose levels, among others. Certain measurements may be obtained using sensors, some of which may be attached to the body for continual data generation, such as EKG and pulse oximetry sensors. Additionally, qualitative observations are obtained via visual examination, questionnaires, and interaction with the individual or patient.
Data is acquired (i.e., put into a storage or analysis medium or device) in a number of ways, including manual entry of data onto charts or into computer systems or automatic electronic transmission of data from sensors to a computer database or system. The art reveals that an attempt has been made to use a remote querying device to request and obtain data from remotely located patients. Additionally, a system used to measure cardio-pulmonary data and download it to an Internet website for analysis and review by physicians has been described.
Attempts have also been made in the art to apply statistical control theory, including control chart techniques, to quantitative measurements of health parameters for the purpose of identifying changes in the “process” (i.e., the health of the patient) that require medical intervention. Attempts have additionally been made to provide visual representations of medical data in the form of graphs or descriptive icons. Although the tools available in the art for monitoring health facilitate diagnosis and treatment of health conditions, for the most part the tools are either too complex for use or are too technical to be understood by the general public.
Thus, there is a need for a user-friendly health monitoring system capable of providing sufficient diagnostic analyses of various medical conditions or health related events. In addition, there is a need for system capable of comparing relevant population data for the purposes of identifying or selecting potentially relevant causes or remedies addressing particular health conditions. Finally, there is a need for a health monitoring system capable of predicting and/or preventing future occurrences of medical conditions or health events.